Shortwave Data

     Going into WW II, the U. S. had a number of commercial shortwave stations, owned and operated by NBC, CBS and some big AM stations.  They all pitched in to form the basis of Voice of America,* and that kind of commercial shortwave broadcasting did not resurface on the same scale after the war.

     At present, there are about seventeen commercial shortwave stations in the U. S. All but two are owned by religious institutions, from the Catholic Church to mainstream and evangelical Protestant denominations to a few churches with a unique take on their faith.  The non-religious stations make their money by selling airtime, most of it to, you guessed it, religious groups.

     I'm all for freedom of religion; it's right up there with freedom of speech.  But should that be our only message to the farthest parts of the globe?
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* And some other things -- the high-power transmitter from the shortwave operation of WCAU in Philadelphia apparently become the transatlantic and worldwide communications transmitter at Canada's Camp X, where U.S. intelligence and sabotage agents were trained, intel gathered, coded orders sent and so on.